Understand your result
From correct answers to a band score.
Every IELTS Reading test contains 40 questions. Your raw score — the number of questions you answer correctly — is converted into a band score between 0 and 9 using an official conversion table.
This page explains how that conversion works and what it means for how you approach your preparation.
How it works
Every correct answer counts equally
Each of the 40 Reading questions is worth exactly one mark, regardless of how difficult it feels or how much time it takes. There is no partial credit and no penalty for an incorrect or blank answer.
Your Raw Score
Add up the total number of questions you answered correctly, out of 40.
Table Conversion
That raw score is matched against an official band-conversion table to produce your Reading band score.
Small Variation Between Versions
The exact number of correct answers needed for each band can shift slightly between different versions of the test, to keep results fair.
A rough guide
General ranges, not guarantees.
As a general pattern across recent test versions, roughly 39–40 correct answers tends to reach Band 9, roughly 30 correct answers tends to sit around Band 7, and roughly 15 correct answers tends to sit around Band 5. These figures shift slightly between test versions, so treat them as a general sense of scale rather than a fixed formula.
An important difference
Academic and General Training are scored on separate tables
Because General Training passages are generally considered less demanding than Academic passages, General Training typically requires a higher number of correct answers to reach the same band score as Academic Reading.
Academic
IELTS Academic Reading
Uses its own conversion table, generally requiring fewer correct answers than General Training to reach the same band at the higher end of the scale.
General Training
IELTS General Training Reading
Uses a separate conversion table, generally requiring a higher number of correct answers to reach the same band at the higher end of the scale.
What this means for you
Aim for as many correct answers as possible.
Because every question is worth exactly one mark and there is no penalty for guessing, your best strategy is always to answer every question — even when you are unsure — rather than leaving anything blank.
Use the strategies covered elsewhere in this section to increase your raw score, then let the official conversion table translate that hard work into your band result.